{"id":3074,"date":"2021-04-28T13:37:55","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T13:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/?p=3074"},"modified":"2025-02-10T13:06:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T18:06:20","slug":"making-the-connection-jeffrey-benson-jr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/2021\/04\/28\/making-the-connection-jeffrey-benson-jr\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the Connection: Jeffrey Benson Jr."},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.kadence-column3074_ca6f4f-f3 > .kt-inside-inner-col{padding-right:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);padding-left:var(--global-kb-spacing-lg, 3rem);}.kadence-column3074_ca6f4f-f3 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column3074_ca6f4f-f3 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column3074_ca6f4f-f3 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column3074_ca6f4f-f3 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column3074_ca6f4f-f3 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column3074_ca6f4f-f3 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column3074_ca6f4f-f3{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column3074_ca6f4f-f3 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 991px){.kadence-column3074_ca6f4f-f3 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column3074_ca6f4f-f3 dynamic-main-col\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\"><style>.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3074_a06be5-b0, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3074_a06be5-b0[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading3074_a06be5-b0\"]{font-size:1.5rem;line-height:30px;font-weight:500;font-style:italic;font-family:proxima-nova;color:#808080;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3074_a06be5-b0 mark.kt-highlight, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3074_a06be5-b0[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading3074_a06be5-b0\"] mark.kt-highlight{font-style:normal;color:#f76a0c;-webkit-box-decoration-break:clone;box-decoration-break:clone;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;}.wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3074_a06be5-b0 img.kb-inline-image, .wp-block-kadence-advancedheading.kt-adv-heading3074_a06be5-b0[data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading3074_a06be5-b0\"] img.kb-inline-image{width:150px;vertical-align:baseline;}<\/style>\n<p class=\"kt-adv-heading3074_a06be5-b0 wp-block-kadence-advancedheading\" data-kb-block=\"kb-adv-heading3074_a06be5-b0\">For this Distinguished Alumni Award winner, <em><strong>community is life.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On any given day, Jeffrey Benson Jr. plays several roles, including father, husband, businessman, student, and community leader. But what keeps his phone ringing, he says, is being a \u201cconnector of people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have the gift of wanting to help people, to see people in a better position than where they\u2019re at,\u201d says Benson. \u201cI honor God for my ability to connect people, to pull together the resources needed to do the things that help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His efforts to help the residents of his hometown of Seaford, Delaware, have earned him Wilmington University\u2019s 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award, given annually by the Alumni Association to recognize outstanding achievements among exceptional graduates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSometimes you want to do things that are bigger than yourself,\u201d Benson explains. \u201cI\u2019m not rich, but I have the passion to share resources. My reward is all the greater for helping others. And if you\u2019re recognized for work that you\u2019re passionate about, how can you not be humbled by that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A managing partner at Prominent Insurance Group, Benson is a two-time graduate of WilmU\u2019s College of Business with an eye on a third degree. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Marketing in 2015 and an MBA in Organizational Leadership in 2019. Since May 2020, he\u2019s been studying toward a Doctor of Business Administration as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Except for the four years he spent in Texas and Germany with the U.S. Air Force, he\u2019s called Seaford home for his entire life, which has given him an incomparable perspective on how it\u2019s changed. \u201cEconomically, it\u2019s seen better times,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have yet to recover from that. We have a lot of people in need. But I live in this area, and I\u2019m proud of this area. We have a lot of people trying to make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Benson\u2019s seat on the Seaford School District Board of Education and his participation in a range of statewide development initiatives, including the Vision Coalition of Delaware\u2019s leadership team and the Delaware Racial Equity and Social Justice Collaborative, represent only the surface of his service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every other Thursday, he participates in mentoring local middle and high school students with lessons of leadership for young men in crisis. \u201cWhen you\u2019re working with youth, you see a reflection of yourself,\u201d he says. \u201cYou remember that sometimes you just need to be pointed in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His tutoring group, called \u201cThe Gentlemen\u2019s Club,\u201d migrated to a videoconference format last spring. While Benson admits that the virtual sessions don\u2019t have quite the same spark as in-person contact, he says they offer much-needed assistance to students who are struggling with remote learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\u2019s also one of the organizers of Seaford Community of Hope, a relief project that helps local families and their children to overcome adversity. Developed in 2019 with funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Children &amp; Families First, and the Sussex County Health Coalition, the organization found no shortage of needs to address in the Year of COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe never stopped working,\u201d says Benson. Seaford Community of Hope lent a hand in the Seaford School District\u2019s food distribution efforts to residents throughout the year. It also offset rent payments and donated gift cards to the residents of a local low-income housing development, besides arranging a coronavirus testing event there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJeffrey Benson is most deserving of the Distinguished Alumni Award,\u201d says Dr. Tina Barksdale, WilmU\u2019s vice president of student affairs, alumni relations, and development. \u201cHis successful career, his educational achievements, and his impact in the Seaford community \u2014 especially the work he has done to help children and families in need and directly affected by the pandemic \u2014 make him a standout alum and the ideal person to be honored with this award.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy first impression of Mr. Benson was of a focused student who was passionate about his studies and desired to learn even outside of the course curriculum,\u201d recalls Adjunct Instructor Myron Sartell, whose finance courses Benson attended for his bachelor\u2019s and MBA degrees. \u201cJeff was a polite and respectful student, and it comes as no surprise to me that he has been recognized for outstanding community service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Making the connections between those in need and those who have the resources to help can take a lot of time \u2014 one of the most valuable resources of all. Plus, there\u2019s still all those other roles to play. When Benson\u2019s schedule is full, he worries whether he\u2019s doing enough to keep the students that The Gentlemen\u2019s Club tutors on track. \u201cI recognize that they need us,\u201d he says, \u201cwhich is hard because I recognize that I can usually do a little more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For this Distinguished Alumni Award winner, community is life. On any given day, Jeffrey Benson Jr. plays several roles, including father, husband, businessman, student, and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3075,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[621],"class_list":["post-3074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-magazine-spring-2021"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":135,"label":"MAGAZINE"}],"post_tag":[{"value":621,"label":"Magazine Spring 2021"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Benson-720x480.jpg",720,480,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Eric Mumford","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/author\/eric\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":135,"name":"MAGAZINE","slug":"magazine","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":692,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":431,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":135,"category_count":431,"category_description":"","cat_name":"MAGAZINE","category_nicename":"magazine","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":621,"name":"Magazine Spring 2021","slug":"magazine-spring-2021","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1178,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":23,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3074"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15524,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074\/revisions\/15524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wilmu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}